EC October 2010

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14 participants
37 discussions

Wyoming's fed-bucking approach to environmental policy
by Paul Wilson 07 Dec '10

07 Dec '10

Info Frack forward Wyoming's fed-bucking approach to environmental policy News - From the October 01, 2010 issue of High Country News<http://www.hcn.org/issues/42.17> by Cally Carswell Document Actions <http://www.hcn.org/issues/42.17/frack-forward/image_viewer> On Sept. 15, Wyoming activated new rules requiring energy companies to identify the chemicals they inject underground to break up rocks in order to free trapped oil and gas. Critics suspect that the process -- known … [View More]as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking -- can contaminate groundwater. Evidence has been elusive, though, in part because drilling companies have been allowed to keep their chemical recipes largely secret. The new rules -- the nation's strictest -- were a surprisingly easy sell in Wyoming, where extractive industries almost single-handedly keep state coffers plump and exercise proportional political clout. At Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal's behest, the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission unanimously signed off on them in June. Though Halliburton protested some, most in the industry seemed unfazed. At the end of this month, the Associated Press reported that drillers even seemed "eager to comply." Anticipating similar moves by President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency, which recently increased its scrutiny of fracking, Wyoming wrote the rules as a message to the feds: Your help is not needed here. Federal "meddling" has always irked Wyoming's leaders. But under Freudenthal, the state has favored a curious strategy for fending off federal regulators: Beat them to the punch with its own cutting-edge environmental policies. In 2007, with a lawsuit pending over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's decision not to list the greater sage grouse as endangered, Freudenthal ordered state officials, conservationists and industry reps to map the bird's vital habitat. Within those "core areas," the state has tightly restricted oil, gas and wind development, all thought to disrupt grouse breeding -- a significant improvement over the Bureau of Land Management's style of developing first and dealing with impacts later. It's not a perfect plan -- core areas are strategically penciled to exclude the best gas patches, say critics, making places like the Powder River Basin sacrifice zones. And Freudenthal has called the grouse "one of the ugliest, stupidest birds I ever knew." Still, he's willing to defend it to protect Wyoming's natural gas industry. His office estimates that a listing would subject 83 percent of gas producers to new regulations. "What we live on in this state is mineral revenues," said Freudenthal energy advisor Aaron Clark in 2009, "and we would be subjecting a lot of that to the vagaries of the Endangered Species Act." For now, the plan has kept federal regulation at bay. When the Interior Department this year again declined to protect the grouse, officials commended Wyoming's efforts. And Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has encouraged other states with sagebrush habitat to adopt the core-area model. Wyoming hopes the feds will be similarly seduced by its new fracking law, as well as pioneering rules developed over the last two years for future carbon capture and sequestration projects. Shannon Anderson, a lawyer for the Powder River Basin Resource Council, a local environmental group, calls the latter "generally good rules." But they're less cautious than similar rules drafted by the EPA, which aim to protect drinking water by considering only deep, briny aquifers as potential carbon storage sites. Wyoming's rules could allow injections in shallow geologic formations, potentially even those that overlie drinking water sources. "They were designed to beat EPA and hopefully get them to follow, rather than dictate, Wyoming's approach," Anderson says. It's encouraging to see Wyoming advance environmental regulation instead of relax it, as the previous governor did to ease coalbed methane development, and as the Bush-Cheney administration did with fracking. But local environmentalists caution that the new policies aren't necessarily evidence that Wyoming's gone green. "All these rules are baby steps in terms of what we really need to accomplish to address the impacts we have in the state," Anderson says, adding that Wyoming is in "an already compromised position." Between 2001 and 2005, sage grouse populations near coalbed methane development in the Powder River Basin declined by 82 percent. Freudenthal refuses to moderate Wyoming's anti-wolf stance, jeopardizing the state's chances to manage the animals. And requiring frackers to disclose their chemicals won't protect groundwater if drillers remain exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act. "The idea is to get these rules in place and stop Congress from passing (comprehensive legislation), which would actually protect public health and safety," Anderson says. Imperfect as it may be, Wyoming's breakaway approach to environmental regulation is gaining favor among some surprising constituencies. Last month, Cathy Woollums, an executive of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a coal-reliant utility behemoth, came to the Wyoming Legislature with an unexpected request: Regulate greenhouse gases. Congressional inaction is creating too much uncertainty in the utility business, she said. And, in any case, MidAmerican would rather answer to Wyoming than the EPA. -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle [View Less]

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Fwd: State energy efficiency rankings
by James Kotcon 02 Nov '10

02 Nov '10

West Virginia ranks 43rd in energy efficiency among the states, dropping from 35th place in the first scorecard in 2006. Lossing points for building codes was one contributor. JBK ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To get off this list, send email to: LISTSERV(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Make the message text (not the Subject): SIGNOFF CONS-FRED The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has released <http://www.aceee.org/sector/state-… [View More]

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Re: [EC] Fwd: [GW-ACT-LEADERS] Environmental Regs Cause Nat Gas to Replace Coal for Electric Generation
by Jim Sconyers 30 Oct '10

30 Oct '10

SC and the Wetzel folks are trying to drag EPA in on the air pollution aspect of Marcellus. Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ________________________________ From: Beth Little <blittle(a)citynet.net> To: James Kotcon <jkotcon(a)wvu.edu>; ec(a)osenergy.org Sent: Sat, October 30, 2010 7:32:35 PM Subject: Re: [EC] Fwd: [GW-ACT-LEADERS] Environmental Regs Cause Nat Gas to Replace Coal for Electric Generation I've really been … [View More]

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Fwd: [GW-ACT-LEADERS] Environmental Regs Cause Nat Gas to Replace Coal for Electric Generation
by James Kotcon 30 Oct '10

30 Oct '10

This investment newsletter predicts phasing out 20-25 % of coal capacity by 2020, due solely to mercury, NOx and SO2 regulations. Natural gas (and some renewables) will be taking up the slack. How do we get ready for this? JBK

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TransGas hearing results
by James Kotcon 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

The hearing before the WV Air Quality Board over our appeal of the air permit for the TransGas Coal-To-Liquids plant was held Wed & Thursday. I just got off a conference call with some folks over the results. The comment below reflect my understanding of what happened, so someone please correct me if I get it wrong. Basically, the AQB listened carefully to our arguments, and appeared to grasp some key points made by our wonderful attorney, Elena Saxonhouse. One of our major issues is … [View More]the claim by DEP & TransGas that the facility is a "Minor Source" rather than a "Major Source". Major Sources have significantly more stringent requirements for an air permit, including requirements that the facility model pollutant dispersion, and that they determine the "Best Available Control Technology" (BACT). TransGas did not include certain emissions in their application, which kept them under the threshold for Major Source. DEP approved the permit as submitted by TransGas, arguing that any emissions not included in the permit would be violations of the permit. Our concern is that, once the plant is built, these emissions could be added to the permit as a minor modification and they would continue operating as a major source without meeting the intent of the Clean Air Act. One major source of emissions is a "flare" used to burn off waste gases. Unfortunately, flares are inherently hard to monitor, and DEP simply assumed that the emissions would be small and therefore the facility as a whole would meet the Minor Source limit. The Air Quality Board seemed receptive to our argument that, to be adequately protective, the air permit had to either measure the emissions to show they were under the limit, or they would have to assume that they could be larger than DEP assumed. Another major source is that Transgas never included emissions from a wastewater treatment plant. They argued that the plant has not been designed yet, and that they may ship the water off site to another facility, and therefore the emissions should not be included in their air permit. We argued that simply omitting the emissions from a required step in the process was not permitted under the Clean Air Act, as it would allow any major source to avoid major source requirements simply by segmenting the facility into tiny little parts, when the whole facility was still a major source. While the Air Quality Board listened carefully to two full days of testimony, and we have good legal arguments, we should not assume that the AQB is a friendly body. Closing briefs will be filed over the next few weeks, so we do not expect a decision for a couple months. On a related note, I hope you all saw the announcement this week by Gov. Manchin that TransGas had settled on an "engineering and procurement contractor". In addition, they had reached an agreement with the Affiliated Construction Trades union to assure that the plant would be built by union labor. We remain very skeptical that this plant would ever get financing, and it was not clear that the EPC contractor or anyone else has actually committed to building anything. The facility's air permit is under challenge (by us), none of the other needed permit applications have even been submitted, and many key features still do not have a final design (e.g., waste water treatment). So even if the air permit were approved, they are still a long way from ever getting anything built. We should not assume we have already lost, but neither should we take for granted that such a crazy idea will be easily rejected. Endless pressure, endlessly applied! Jim Kotcon 304-2903-8822 (office) 304-594-3322 (home) [View Less]

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Fwd: WV Governor, TransGas Development Systems Announce Coal to Gasoline Project
by Paul Wilson 29 Oct '10

29 Oct '10

fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: DAVID E ORTMAN <deortman(a)msn.com> Date: Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 12:16 AM Subject: RE: WV Governor, TransGas Development Systems Announce Coal to Gasoline Project To: pjgrunt(a)gmail.com, coal-campaign-alerts(a)lists.sierraclub.org FR: David E. Ortman, Seattle, WA Regarding coal to gasoline, Scientific American was not impressed in 2007. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=worse-than-gasoline Apparently some are … [View More]proposing to use nuclear energy to power the damn conversion process! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 20:59:37 -0400 From: pjgrunt(a)GMAIL.COM Subject: Fwd: WV Governor, TransGas Development Systems Announce Coal to Gasoline Project To: COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG fyi, paul ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: *Frank Young* <fyoung(a)mountain.net> Date: Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 4:21 PM Subject: [EC] Fw: Governor, TransGas Development Systems Announce Coal to Gasoline Project To: ec(a)osenergy.org, wvec-board(a)yahoogroups.com, WVHCBOARD(a)yahoogroups.com In Mingo County, coal to liquids- long awaited announcement .................... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: **<governor(a)wv.gov> Date: Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 2:35 PM Subject: Governor, TransGas Development Systems Announce Coal to Gasoline Project To: trouserdude(a)gmail.com Oct. 28, 2010 *GOVERNOR, TRANSGAS DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS ANNOUNCE COAL TO GASOLINE PROJECT **TransGas president says that coal to gasoline project will be first in the nation and a model for the country to regain its energy independence and put Americans to work* Contact: Melvin Smith, 304-558-2000 or Adam Victor, 917-816-3700 or adamvictor(a)transgasdevelopment.com CHARLESTON, W.Va. – After four years of continuous effort, Gov. Joe Manchin and TransGas Development Systems President Adam Victor, along with several state and local representatives, today announced that the company has selected its Engineering Procurement Contractor (EPC) and technology provider for its coal to gasoline facility that will be built in Mingo County, West Virginia. This facility will be the nation’s first and largest of its kind in the world. Representatives from the state Building and Construction Trades Council, along with representatives from the EPC contractor and the project technology provider were also present for today’s announcement. The project will be built by SK Engineering & Construction and will utilize the technology of Uhde GmbH, one of the world’s largest construction companies, using premier coal gasification technology. The governor commended the efforts of TransGas Development Systems, SK Engineering and Uhde GmbH for their partnership with the state of West Virginia. “This project indicates how serious we are about matching our abundant coal resources with the technology available to produce clean energy. West Virginia is fully committed to being a leader in energy self-sufficiency and this development shows that we are dedicated to using our coal resources as prudently as possible. This project’s success will truly be far-reaching for the coal industry,” said the governor. During today’s meeting, Victor reminded officials that four years ago, he was on the verge of relocating his operations overseas after facing years of challenges while trying to convince officials across the Northeast to make the tough decision to support necessary energy infrastructure development. Only after Mr. Victor met Governor Manchin did he realize that West Virginia could be a place where energy infrastructure could be built and supported by state and local officials. “Four years ago, TransGas found, in Governor Joe Manchin, a leader who understood the importance of coal as the primary asset to developing America’s future energy independence. Moreover, he understood the need to forcefully address the many fallacies that have arisen surrounding the environmental effects of mining and using coal. “Governor Joe Manchin also understood that a fleet of coal to liquid plants would form the cornerstone of a resurgence of American industrial might – built by skilled American unionized construction tradesmen, working in close concert with project owners. Simply put, if not for the governor, we would not have invested the time, nor effort into this project and this project would not exist today,” said TransGas president, Adam Victor. Victor praised the governor for bringing the construction trades union together with his chosen contractor and technology provider to ensure that this project will be built by skilled West Virginia workers, on time and under budget. This project will convert regional coal into 756,000 gallons of premium grade ultraclean gasoline a day. Put in proper perspective, less than fifty of these Coal to Gasoline facilities nationwide would eliminate 100 percent of America’s need to import foreign gasoline; create nearly 150,000 jobs and make the United States a net exporter of gasoline. SK E&C (www.skec.com) is an arm of SK group (www.sk.com), Korea's third largest corporation and one of the leading business organizations in the world. SK is made up of 40 companies including seven that are listed on the Korea Stock Exchange. SK has a presence on six continents and 25,000 employees. SK E&C is one of the world’s most qualified engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance services organizations. Their experience includes Korea’s largest oil refinery, the Cadereyta and Madero Refinery upgrades in Mexico, full-scale refinery projects in Kuwait, Brazil and Ghana. Udhe GmbH is one of Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG's 670 companies who employ almost 200,000 employees worldwide. In addition to a 50-year history of developing gasification technologies, Udhe is one of the world's leading engineering groups specializing in the design of chemical, refining and other industrial plants in all four corners of the globe with more than 2,000 plants to its credit. More information on TransGas Development Systems LLC is available at http://www.transgasdevelopment.com/ . Contact: Adam Victor, 917-816-3700 or adamvictor(a)transgasdevelopment.com # # # Cheers, Daniel Chiotos Keeper of the Mountains Foundation Operations Director http://www.mountainkeeper.org 179 Summers St, Suite 234 Charleston, WV, 25301 (304)886-3389 - cell (304)205-0920 - office* <http://appalachiarising.org/> "WE ARE THE KEEPERS OF THE MOUNTAINS, LOVE THEM OR LEAVE THEM, JUST DON'T DESTROY THEM. IF YOU CARE TO BE ONE TOO, CALL 304-542-1134 OR 304-205-0920."* - Larry Gibson _______________________________________________ EC mailing list EC(a)osenergy.org http://osenergy.org/mailman/listinfo/ec -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS list, send any message to: COAL-CAMPAIGN-ALERTS-signoff-request(a)LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/ -- Paul Wilson Sierra Club 504 Jefferson Ave Charles Town, WV 25414-1130 Phone: 304-725-4360 Cell: 304-279-1361 "There is no forward until you have gone back" ~Buddha "In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous" ~ Aristotle [View Less]

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Fw: Governor, TransGas Development Systems Announce Coal to Gasoline Project
by Frank Young 28 Oct '10

28 Oct '10

In Mingo County, coal to liquids- long awaited announcement .................... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: <governor(a)wv.gov> Date: Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 2:35 PM Subject: Governor, TransGas Development Systems Announce Coal to Gasoline Project To: trouserdude(a)gmail.com Oct. 28, 2010 GOVERNOR, TRANSGAS DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS ANNOUNCE COAL TO GASOLINE PROJECT TransGas president says that coal to gasoline project will be first in the nation and a model for the … [View More]country to regain its energy independence and put Americans to work Contact: Melvin Smith, 304-558-2000 or Adam Victor, 917-816-3700 or adamvictor(a)transgasdevelopment.com CHARLESTON, W.Va. – After four years of continuous effort, Gov. Joe Manchin and TransGas Development Systems President Adam Victor, along with several state and local representatives, today announced that the company has selected its Engineering Procurement Contractor (EPC) and technology provider for its coal to gasoline facility that will be built in Mingo County, West Virginia. This facility will be the nation’s first and largest of its kind in the world. Representatives from the state Building and Construction Trades Council, along with representatives from the EPC contractor and the project technology provider were also present for today’s announcement. The project will be built by SK Engineering & Construction and will utilize the technology of Uhde GmbH, one of the world’s largest construction companies, using premier coal gasification technology. The governor commended the efforts of TransGas Development Systems, SK Engineering and Uhde GmbH for their partnership with the state of West Virginia. “This project indicates how serious we are about matching our abundant coal resources with the technology available to produce clean energy. West Virginia is fully committed to being a leader in energy self-sufficiency and this development shows that we are dedicated to using our coal resources as prudently as possible. This project’s success will truly be far-reaching for the coal industry,” said the governor. During today’s meeting, Victor reminded officials that four years ago, he was on the verge of relocating his operations overseas after facing years of challenges while trying to convince officials across the Northeast to make the tough decision to support necessary energy infrastructure development. Only after Mr. Victor met Governor Manchin did he realize that West Virginia could be a place where energy infrastructure could be built and supported by state and local officials. “Four years ago, TransGas found, in Governor Joe Manchin, a leader who understood the importance of coal as the primary asset to developing America’s future energy independence. Moreover, he understood the need to forcefully address the many fallacies that have arisen surrounding the environmental effects of mining and using coal. “Governor Joe Manchin also understood that a fleet of coal to liquid plants would form the cornerstone of a resurgence of American industrial might – built by skilled American unionized construction tradesmen, working in close concert with project owners. Simply put, if not for the governor, we would not have invested the time, nor effort into this project and this project would not exist today,” said TransGas president, Adam Victor. Victor praised the governor for bringing the construction trades union together with his chosen contractor and technology provider to ensure that this project will be built by skilled West Virginia workers, on time and under budget. This project will convert regional coal into 756,000 gallons of premium grade ultraclean gasoline a day. Put in proper perspective, less than fifty of these Coal to Gasoline facilities nationwide would eliminate 100 percent of America’s need to import foreign gasoline; create nearly 150,000 jobs and make the United States a net exporter of gasoline. SK E&C (www.skec.com) is an arm of SK group (www.sk.com), Korea's third largest corporation and one of the leading business organizations in the world. SK is made up of 40 companies including seven that are listed on the Korea Stock Exchange. SK has a presence on six continents and 25,000 employees. SK E&C is one of the world’s most qualified engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance services organizations. Their experience includes Korea’s largest oil refinery, the Cadereyta and Madero Refinery upgrades in Mexico, full-scale refinery projects in Kuwait, Brazil and Ghana. Udhe GmbH is one of Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG's 670 companies who employ almost 200,000 employees worldwide. In addition to a 50-year history of developing gasification technologies, Udhe is one of the world's leading engineering groups specializing in the design of chemical, refining and other industrial plants in all four corners of the globe with more than 2,000 plants to its credit. More information on TransGas Development Systems LLC is available at http://www.transgasdevelopment.com/ . Contact: Adam Victor, 917-816-3700 or adamvictor(a)transgasdevelopment.com # # # Cheers, Daniel Chiotos Keeper of the Mountains Foundation Operations Director http://www.mountainkeeper.org 179 Summers St, Suite 234 Charleston, WV, 25301 (304)886-3389 - cell (304)205-0920 - office "WE ARE THE KEEPERS OF THE MOUNTAINS, LOVE THEM OR LEAVE THEM, JUST DON'T DESTROY THEM. IF YOU CARE TO BE ONE TOO, CALL 304-542-1134 OR 304-205-0920." - Larry Gibson [View Less]

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Fwd: ENEWS: Climate Change and the Future of Coal
by James Kotcon 26 Oct '10

26 Oct '10

Climate Change and the Future of Coal: A Legal Perspective presented at WVU College of LawMichaelB. Gerrard the Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice atColumbia Law School, will present "Climate Change and the Future ofCoal, " at 11 a.m., Monday, Nov. 1 in the Marlyn E. Lugar Courtroom atthe WVU Law Center. For full release, see: http://wvutoday.wvu.edu/n/2010/10/26/climate-change-and-the-future-of-coal-… RESEARCH

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Re: [EC] Fwd: Article - Patriot Coal reports $46M third-quarter loss
by Jim Sconyers 25 Oct '10

25 Oct '10

Can't make money mining coal in WV - who'd a thunk it! And our recent hammering them on selenium will ramp up the cost of mining considerably. Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last. ________________________________ From: James Kotcon <jkotcon(a)wvu.edu> To: ehansen(a)downstreamstrategies.com; pbjmwood(a)gmail.com; jim_scon(a)yahoo.com Sent: Mon, October 25, 2010 10:03:05 AM Subject: Fwd: Article - Patriot Coal reports $46M third-… [View More]

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shutting coal-fired plants in Colorado
by Jim Sconyers 22 Oct '10

22 Oct '10

http://www.wvgazette.com/ap/ApTopStories/201010210966 Shutting down coal plants on Colorado. Jim Sconyers jim_scon(a)yahoo.com 304.698.9628 Remember: Mother Nature bats last.

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EC October 2010